Content provided by: Amberjack
Since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Amberjack has seen a lot of changes in the way employers have considered hosting their campus recruiting events and what has motivated students to engage with employer content.
With this has come significant changes to attraction strategy and planning. This is why we brought together employers, students, universities, and event providers to discuss and share their insights on an expert panel for an ISE webinar.
During the discussion, a number of topics came to the forefront, highlighting the focus points of the early careers market right now.
In-person events
It included the preference for in-person events over virtual events. Popular events include the traditional careers fairs and company presentations, but particular emphasis was also placed on panel discussions and skills sessions.
Students are keen to really understand the recruitment process and know what to expect, they welcome face-to-face interactions.
Skills sessions
Taking a closer look at this, skills sessions, mentioned by all of the panelists, seemed to offer significant value to students.
After Covid, it became clear that many students are struggling with skills such as teamwork, communication, and resilience. One of the panelists revealed that many universities are keen to assist students with this and have planning in place to allow employers to run (or help run) these sessions.
This is just one way to grab the attention of the young people you’re trying to convince to apply for your roles. The level of value offered by sessions such as these is the key reason why they tend to receive good engagement levels.
Location, location, location
Another notable factor in student engagement, especially for in-person campus recruiting events, is the space that you get. By this, we’re referring to the physical location of your stands, tables, and event activities.
Understandably, high footfall areas can help significantly improve uptake, but if you don’t get a hot spot, don’t worry.
From minigames, which provide a level of excitement, to using alumni to get authentic insider information, there are a number of things you can do to try and increase interest in your event stand and what you have to say.
You’re also probably not surprised to hear that one of the most successful methods of engaging students is free food.
Student societies
A lesser known, yet effective, method of increasing valuable engagement, especially from a more diverse audience, is to work with student societies to increase event attendance.
These can help target the student populations you’re keen to see applications from, so sharing your events with these groups, or having a society member as a representative, can be an asset to your strategy.
All this being said, there are some facts of student engagement that are not easy to combat regardless of your strategy. If you’re trying to encourage event sign-ups there is a certain level of challenge that you will inevitably face; forward advertising is hard.
To view the full takeaways from our expert panel, exploring what students actually want from your engagement activities, you can request your copy of the Key Takeaways on the Amberjack website.
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